I have been reading quite a few posts about CA's. I recevied a letter from Nelson, Watson & Associates in the mail. It is from a Verizon wireless debt back in 2003. I just recently looked at my credit report and now I have a collection from Pinnacle, who are represented by the named above. The only thing about it is that the account is now being shown as opened in July 2008. Is that legal? I was also going to send the a C&D / DV letter to try and find out where they got this info from. Is that a good idea. I looked up the SOL for NC, but I don't understand which one applies to this. If the account was sold, does the SOL start over. My 30 days is almost up and I don't have the slightest idea on what to do. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

RE: account opened date, July '08 is probably when the CA got the account so that's valid. That's not the same as DOFD.

RE: DV, IMO, you should always respond to a CA letter with a DV letter. Whether you want to go C&D as well, depends on the circumstances. The problem with a full C&D is that leaves them with only two options: go away or go to court.

I found a C&D letter, but I haven't seen anything for A DV letter. Do you know where I can find a format or example? This is my first time dealing with this, so everything is new to me. The only reason I know DV, CA, C&D, etc. is from reading posts for the past 3 hrs. Do they normally go to court or are they just blowing smoke to try and get you to pay?

My favorite DV letter is simply.

I dispute this debt in its entirety and request verification pursuant to the FDCPA.

All the ones that go into chapter and verse and have some big long list of demands just show that you got something off the internet and you really don't know what it means. (Don't feel bad, I did the same thing the first time). But, my feeling is that it's not your job to read them the law they should know if they are in the collections biz.

After sending that letter (CMRRR) to the CA, follow up after they have received it by requesting the CRA's validate the trade line. The Trade line should go away until they send you the verification or... it could just go away (with any luck).

Thanks for your help

What state are you in?
I sent them off a DV and they have never bothered me since and it has been several months now.
Woofer